Battery and Controller in same triangle bag.

[SnowDog2112]

Are there any heat related, or other issues I should be concerned with , storing my controller in the same triangle pack bag as the battery? I haven't recieved it yet,..5 days away... the ad says the bag has room for a 'small' controller, so I suppose this means I should be ok... Thanks.

 

[Ykick]

Even small controllers get hot. I tried a 6 FET inside a bag and it got much hotter than I was comfortable with. Lotsa times it can appear to work fine but if/when things go wrong, it can go very wrong.

 

[motomech]

Especially, 6-FET controllers get hot inside a bag.
So I use a physically large/low power controllers that don't get too hot to touch.
On my 2WD, I use these 17A, 9-FET units;
http://www.elifebike.com/peng/iview.asp?KeyID=dtpic-2014-3K-SAUG.5TSEX
That's two of them inside a frame bag w/ 10Ah of Lipo.
The 9-FET's are twice as large as a 15A 6-fet and have lot's of internal air space and, of course, a larger heat sink.
Been using this set-up for a couplke of years and the controllers only get warm to the touch.

 

[cal3thousand]

I don't think controllers should ever go inside of a bag. They are in extruded aluminum cases for heat shedding ability. There may be some situations where you will 'get away with it'. But in general, it's a bad idea.

 

[motomech]

It might be a "bad idea" if I was still using $125 controllers.
My perfered controller is $22, so I have spares. But haven't had to use one yet.
And there aren't many places hotter than where I live.

I have used tiny 6-FET controllers in a sm. mesh bag with no problems.

 

[d8veh]

I've fitted nearly all my controllers in bags. The type of controller doesn't make a difference, but the way that you use it does. If your motor has a much higher winding speed than what it has power to achieve, the controller will be giving maximum current all the time, so will overheat. A controller might be rated at 750w, which is the continuous power that it can run without overheating, but it will allow double that power. As an an example, a 15A 6 FET controller with a 201 rpm Q100 will never overheat in a bag, but if you change the motor to a 328 rpm, it will.

If you could give us some idea of what motor you have, what's its maximum speed and the controller you want to use, it would be easier to give more exact advice.

 

[dogman dan]

Mesh bag in Tucson. That would allow plenty of cooling air. Very different from a padded bag that cuts off all air, and insulates. I will never recommend smothering the controller, but if the bag lets in air, it can be fine in any climate. Depends on the bag, and how hot the controller gets in the first place.

But it's also true, the way you ride may keep the controller fairly cool, the way I ride may not. It just depends. FWIW, the coolest way to ride is wide open throttle. Switching the fets with pwm makes them hot.

Edit, even at WOT, an undersize controller might get hot, just from the current flowing through petite solder traces. I meant a proper sized controller will run cool at WOT

 

[rider95]

its a bad Ideal to put a speed controller in a bag it needs air a lot of air to keep it cool

 

[dogman dan]

Yes it does, IF it gets hot. If it doesn't get hot, you can get away with it. But I will never bag a controller in my climate. Vented bag maybe, but no rain to hide from here really.